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Mpls woman loses relatives in quake, then daughter in car crash

A Minneapolis woman who lost several members of her family in the Haiti earthquake suffered another tragedy when her 20-year old daughter was killed in a car accident Thursday night.

Evelyn Gaetan had just returned from the devastating earthquate in Haiti a week ago, according to her stepdaughter, Marie Gaetan.

Marie says Evelyn had gone to Haiti late last year to visit her family, and was there when the earthquake struck January 12. Marie Gaetan says several members of her family, including a brother, cousin and uncle, were killed.

Marie says Evelyn had helped the family bury the dead before she was evacuated to Miami.

Then came the news that Evelyn's daughter, Tamara Gaetan, 20, was killed in a single-car crash in south Minneapolis Thursday night.

Tamara Gaetan and the driver of the car, also a 20-year-old woman, died after their car hit a tree. A teenager in the back seat was also injured.

"She just came from Haiti and witnessed all the death in Haiti, and then now to come to this," said Marie Gaetan. "I feel like it's one disaster after the next. It just keeps coming for some reason."

The family says Tamara Gaetan was just a few blocks from home, when the driver apparently lost control and hit a tree. Police are investigating the cause of the crash, and say speed may have been a factor.